Accompanied by the award-winning San Francisco-based early music ensemble Voices of Music, the American violinist Cynthia Miller Freivogel, who specialized in both baroque and modern violin, performs Antonio Vivaldi’s “Summer” (L’Estate, RV 315) from the Four Seasons (Le quattro stagioni). Both Freivogel and the ensemble use original period instruments.
Vivaldi’s brilliant concerto is here presented
Poems for “Summer”
Unusual for the time, Vivaldi published the “four seasons” with accompanying poems (possibly written by Vivaldi himself).
Allegro non molto
“Sotto dura Staggion dal Sole accesa
Langue l’ huom, langue ‘l gregge, ed arde il Pino;
Scioglie il Cucco la Voce, e tosto intesa
Canta la Tortorella e ‘l gardelino.
Zeffiro dolce Spira, mà contesa
Muove Borea improviso al Suo vicino;
E piange il Pastorel, perche sospesa
Teme fiera borasca, e ‘l suo destino;”
Beneath the blazing sun’s relentless heat
men and flocks are sweltering,
pines are scorched.
We hear the cuckoo’s voice; then sweet songs of the turtle dove and finch are heard.
Soft breezes stir the air… but threatening north wind sweeps them suddenly aside. The shepherd trembles, fearful of a violent storm and what may lie ahead.
Adagio e piano – Presto e forte
“Toglie alle membra lasse il Suo riposo
Il timore de’ Lampi, e tuoni fieri
E de mosche, e mossoni il Stuol furioso!”
His limbs are now awakened from their repose by fear of lightning’s flash and thunder’s roar, as gnats and flies buzz furiously around.
Presto
“Ah che pur troppo i Suo timor Son veri
Tuona e fulmina il Ciel e grandioso
Tronca il capo alle Spiche e a’ grani alteri.”
Alas, his worst fears were justified, as the heavens roar and great hailstones beat down upon the proudly standing corn.
Voices of Music
Hanneke van Proosdij & David Tayler, directors
Cynthia Miller Freivogel, baroque violin by Johann Paul Schorn, Salzburg, Austria, 1715
Lisa Grodin, baroque viola by Mathias Eberl, Salzburg, Austria, 1680Katherine Heater, baroque organ by Winold van der Putten, Finsterwolde, Netherlands, 2004, after early 18th-century northern German instruments
Kati Kyme, baroque violin by Johann Gottlob Pfretzschner, Mittenwald, 1791
Carla Moore, baroque violin by Johann Georg Thir, Vienna, Austria, 1754
Maxine Nemerovski, baroque violin by Joseph Gaffino, Paris, 1769
Farley Pearce, violone by George Stoppani, Manchester, 1985, after Amati, 1560
Hanneke van Proosdij, Italian single manual harpsichord by Johannes Klinkhamer, Amsterdam, 2000, after Cristofori, Florence, c1725
Elisabeth Reed, baroque cello, anonymous, 1673
William Skeen, five string baroque cello, Anonymous, Italy, c1680
David Tayler, archlute by Andreas von Holst, Munich, 2012
after Magno Tieffenbrucker, Venice, c1610
Gabrielle Wunsch, baroque violin by Lorenzo Carcassi, Florence, Italy, 1765
Produced by Meg Bragle
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